


Off The Beaten Path

by AuditoryCheesecake



Series: A Cheesecake's Tumblr Shorts [33]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Post-Campaign Probably, Secret Temple, wild speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 09:18:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17640035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuditoryCheesecake/pseuds/AuditoryCheesecake
Summary: Jester left a temple in the tunnel. Edith has never closed her door on a stranger who needs help.





	Off The Beaten Path

Felderwin has scars, after the war. Houses can be rebuilt, but not people. There’s talk of building a memorial over the tunnels outside town where the Cricks came through. Other people want to fill the hole in, till the earth, and forget it ever happened. Eight crownsguard tell their officers about the research party that went in. Questions are sent to the Cobalt Soul with little hope of explanation. None arrives.

Years pass and trade resumes. The army’s presence in their little town had one benefit- the roads were widened and repaved. Traders looking for new markets find their way into town. Other travelers come too.

Felderwin is a town of growing things. A place of tradition. The Platinum Dragon gets his due, but there are older, quieter rites performed in the fields and tavern basements. Still, strangers asking subtly after unfamiliar temples draw attention.

Old Edith tries to catch those strangers on the street, before they ask the wrong person the wrong question. She learns to recognize them: new faces, yes, but a certain spark in their eye, a certain quiver in their fingers. Troublemakers and wanderers, artists and tinkers and bards. None are that little blue tiefling, but there’s a look about them all the same. All of them come in for a cup of tea and tell her about the places they’ve been.

In the cover of night, Edith takes them to the southern fields. She brings them to the spot, innocuous as it seems. The first few times she brings a shovel, but they all seem to know other ways to dig. Sometimes they come back out, but she tries not to worry when they don’t. It’s not her temple they go looking for. It’s not her business.

It’s years before she gets up the courage to go down into the earth with one of them, but finally, her curiosity gets the best of her. 

The tunnel is long and smooth, and time seems to stretch around her as she follows this green-cloaked stranger. Her footsteps echo and her hips creak, but she does not tire in the usual way. When she stops for a breath- far later than she usually does– the hooded man takes her hand with a smile. He coaxes her around one last curve in the tunnel, and the temple opens up before her.

Natural crystals sparkle in magical light. Banners and murals adorn the walls of the cavern, and Edith stops at the threshold. There is no grand doorway, no vaulted arches. It looks nothing like the silvery halls of the Platinum Dragon’s temple or even the humble homes of the older traditions, but she can feel the same power inside.

“Come in,” the stranger says. Behind him, on an altar carved from the tallest stalagmite, sits a strange little idol. The offerings spread out before it range from gold statuettes to books to drawings on paper. He holds out his hand. “Come in, Edith. You belong here. You may only ever have traveled as far as Alfield, but without you, this place would not exist.”

Slowly, she does. The man smiles at her. “Every road needs a signpost,” he says. “Every temple needs a guardian. You have served me well, Old Edith.”

She peers at him with the full weight of the skepticism she’s gained over her many years. He is corporeal for a god. She’d leaned her weight on him walking here, and his arm under hers hadn’t felt divine. “I didn’t do it for you, young man.”

He laughs, and it sounds like something from far away. Like a bell in a cathedral, maybe, or thunder over deep water. “No, you didn’t. But when you open your door to travelers, the Traveler comes in.”

**Author's Note:**

> [also on tumblr, if you like that sort of thing](http://acheesecakewrites.tumblr.com/post/182515007738/acheesecakewrites-felderwin-has-scars-after-the)


End file.
